Sunday, 21 October 2018

Twenty years ago, Dutch troubadour Daniel Lohues was in a fun rock band called Skik. They had quite some success but Lohues has wandered into different directions since then, exploring his blues side and for the past decade playing wonderful folk music in theatres. I like Lohues a lot, who is a very skilled and creative song writer with lots of musical talent and a gentle attitude. During the recording of his last album, he noticed he had a lot of fun playing in an electric band again so he decided to do a little tour.

For this occasion he changed the arrangements of his mostly acoustic solo songs, always in his local dialect, so they are suitable to play for a rock band. They don't need a lot of changing, since tonight proves his songs are so strong they can be easily played by a full band without losing their edge. Lohues also chose them wisely, where he knows some of the more light weight ones are perfect to rock out to and some of his most delicate ones can be turned into beautiful ballads.

Of course the blues is never far away either, where his blues adventure quite some time ago pays off again. Lohues and his band are clearly having a hell of a time throwing smiles around to each other and the big man himself plays his solos with a huge grin, now and then making funny faces. He gathered a bunch of amazing musicians around him, that he got to know throughout his impressive career.

The audience is clearly old enough to know him from his Skik times, when he was still a young rocker, living a boy's dream. Every Skik song is greeted with loud cheers and makes the crowd dance to the fierce rock songs. Now he's the veteran musician, who has seen every side of the business and was able to find a way to make a good living out of it and still stay true to himself. Nowadays he's writing the music he wants to for himself and other musicians and is a respected producer. And whenever he wants to rock hard again he just gathers his friends for a night of good old fun rock and roll.